Antoni

Gaudi
 Contents

Aims 3
Methodology 3
Background 3
A report on the
Inspiration 4
life and works
of Philosophy 5
Antoni Gaudi
compiled by -Nature 5
Jonathan Davis
-Beauty, proportion and colour 6
Work 7
-Houses 7
-Parks 8
-La Segrada Familia 9
Conclusion 11
References 12
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Aims
The aim of this report was to compile together
research on the life, works and philosophy of the
Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi.
Methodology
The methodology used to conduct this report was
secondary research based on books, e-books and TV
documentaries.
Background
Antoni Gaudi was the youngest of 5 children born on
25 June 1852 in the town of Reus (Casanelles,1967).
Inspiration
As a child Gaudi was fascinated with nature however
it was not until, as a teenager, when he visited the
monastery of Poblet that he was inspired to become
an architect.
The monastery of Poblet is a 13th-century Cistercian
monastery in Catalunya. For Gaudi this monastery
was the perfect example of purity, plainness,
magnificence and piety (Visions of Space,2008).
As you can see in the picture below the style of the
monastery reflects many of the characteristics that
Gaudis work has.

From the age of eleven Gaudi attended the secondary

school run by the Escolapius Fathers studying for his
Bachillerato (Casanelles,1967).

At the age of 17 in 1868 Antoni Gaudi started studying

architecture in Barcelona (Visions of Space, 2008)
Figure 1:(above) inside the
monastery of Poblet
After graduating in 1878, Gaudi started his
professional career as an architect (Crippa,2002) Figure 2:(left) Antoni Gaudi

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Philosophy
Nature
Gaudi believed that Nature and geometry was the
root of all things saying that Originality is achieved
by returning to origins (Gaudi, cited by Sterner,1985).
His work strived to achieve the balance of both of
these attributes with his structures being formed
from organic curves inspired by nature, for example
in the Guell crypt grove the columns are designed
not only to imitate the structure of the tree but also
the texture as well with the brick and stone forming
a rough outer texture much like the bark on a tree.
One of Gaudis most famous metaphors is You know
who my teacher is? The teacher is the tree outside the
window (Gaudi, cited by Visions of space,2008).
Gaudis style is so distinctive that many believe he
created his own style of modernism (FitzGerald,2005).
Figure 3: Columns
in the crypt of
Park Guell
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Beauty, proportion and
colour
From the very beginning of his career Gaudi set out
a firm view on what he believed beauty was. He
believed that an object is beautiful when its form is
functional, free from any unnecessary features and is
in harmony with the material that it is constructed
from (Sterner,1985).
As such Gaudi used many parabolic curves in his
designs, in fact such were the complexities of the
curves used in some of his buildings that he had
to devise a method for which he could quickly and
simply change his designs. This method was the use
of hanging models in which Gaudi could analyse the
properties of his arches by hanging a chain with loads
hung from it at various points (Huerta,S.H.,2011)
Following on from this, proportion for Gaudi meant
that the individual parts of a building where in
harmony with the building as a whole. Gaudi came
to this solution based on his
studies of the natural form.
From these studies Gaudi also
drew the reasoning behind his
views on colour in that colour
in nature is never one tone and
as such he felt it necessary to
colour elements of his buildings
so as to exaggerate their
functions.
Figure 4: hanging
chain model (Huerta,
2006, p.9, fig.20)
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Work
Houses
In his life, especially in his early career Gaudi created
a wide variety of housing in his career with the Casa
Vicens being his first important build as it was his
first private build, previous projects of Gaudis were
mainly religious and public projects.
The Casa Vicens was built as a summer home in the
town of Gracia for the tile manufacturer Manuel
Vicens in 1883-1885 (Sterner,1985).
Figure 5: inside of Casa Figure 6: inside of Casa
Vicens Vicens
Parks
Due to Gaudis fascination with nature the parks
that he constructed where designed to reflect the
nature in which they were situated. As such these
parks contained many natural forms and many
of the buildings were decorated with floral motifs
(Crippa,2002).
One of his more famous parks is the Park Gell
situated 150m above sea level on the Montaa Pelada
treeless mountain (Sterner,1985).
The Park Gell was built in 1900-1914 and was
commissioned by Eusebio Gell as a Garden City
Housing estate. The scheme was however unsuccessful
and the park is now a Barcelona Public Park
(Sterner,1985).
Figure 7: Park
Guell
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 La Segrada
Figure 8: (above left) interior of La Segrada Familia.
Figure 9: (top right) interior of La Segrada Familia.
Figure 10: (above right) interior ofLa Segrada Familia.
Gaudi was a catholic and very strong in his faith,
because of this he designed many religious buildings
however his most famous building, considered by
many to be his masterpiece, is La Segrada Familia
(the Holy Family).
Building for La Segrada Familia started in 1882
with the first stone being laid on Saint Joesephs day.
The Segrada Familia was designed to be built and
maintained by donations alone (Sterner,1985).
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Familia
Figure 11: (above left) Exterior of La Segrada Familia.
Figure 12: (top left) main entrance of La Segrada Familia.
Figure 13: (above right) detailing on La Segrada Familia.
Figure 14: (top right) columns on La Segrada Familia
Gaudi worked on the cathedral for a total of 43
years and by the time of his accidental death in
1926 only 1 of 18 towers were finished. Although the
cathedral started as a professional commission it
turned into a personal project for Gaudi, with him
devoting the final 12 years of his life to the project.
Despite this Gaudi knew that he would not live to see
the completion of the project, as such he developed
elaborate strategic methods for calculating the curves
on the cathedral that his apprentices would be able to
carry on his works (Hernandez, 2006).
Conclusion
In conclusion Gaudi was and remains a very
influential designer and architect who has had a
significant impact on modern architecture.
His work methodology and techniques were
significantly different from anyone else in the
industry at the time which resulted in a revolution
in the way in which the form of a building is
constructed.
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References
Figures - 1
Figure 1: Monestir de Poblet [photograph] (no date). Available from
http://elevation.maplogs.com/poi/partida_comes_20_mald_lleida_
spain.119122.html
[Accessed 20 November 2016]
Figure 2: Editors (no date)Antoni gaudi portrait [photograph]. Available
from
http://www.biography.com/people/antoni-gaud%C3%AD-40695
[Accessed 17 November 2016]
Figure 3: Coloumns in the crypt of Park Guell [photograph](no date).
Available from http://touristicattractions.com/church-of-the-colonia-
guell/ [Accessed 17 November 2016]
Figure 4: hanging chain model [diagram] Santiago Huerta (2006) Struc-
tural Design in the Work of Gaud,Architectural Science Review, 49:4, 324-
339. Available from
http://dx.doi.org/10.3763/asre.2006.4943
Figure 5: Casa Vicens smoking room [photograph](no date). Available
from
http://www.gaudidesigner.com/uk/casa-vicens-smoking-room_79.html
[Accessed 17 November 2016]
Figure 6: Casa Vicens interior [photograph](no date). Available from
http://touristicattractions.com/casa-vicens-spain-barcelona/[Accessed 17
November 2016]
Figure 7: Monumental Flights of steps and the Hypostyle room[photo-
graph] (no date). Available from
http://talesoftravellingsisters.com/masterpieces-antoni-gaudi/park-
guell-6/
[Accessed 17 November 2016]
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Figures - 2 Documents
BARRIOS HERNANDEZ, C.R., 2006. Thinking paramet-
Figure 8: Toor, A.T.(2013) gaudi sagrada familia [photograph]. ric design: introducing parametric Gaudi. Design Studies,
Available from http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/29/4782492/watch- 27(3), pp. 309-324.
gaudis-sagrada-familias-endless-construction-come-to-a-close
CASANELLES, E., 1967. Antoni Gaudi: a reappraisal. Lon-
[Accessed 18 November 2016] don: Studio Vista.

Figure 9: Kandemir, S.K.(2016) no title [photograph]. Available
from http://www.dekorator.com.tr/la-sagrada-familia-bitmeyen-kilisenin-
hikayesi.html
[Accessed 18 November 2016]
Figure 10: Cathedral of stone and light La Sagrada
Familia, Barcelona [photograph](no date). Available from
https://ourpieceoftheirworld.wordpress.com/tag/la-sagrada-familia/
[Accessed 18 November 2016]
Figure 11: Segrada Familia (2012) [photograph]. Available from
https://atasteofitalyfarfromhome.wordpress.com/tag/food/
[Accessed 18 November 2016]
Figure 12: Horowitz, S.H. (2015)Arch and four towers of
the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, designed by
Antoni Gaudi [photograph]. Available from
http://greenandprofitable.com/was-gaudi-a-biomimicry-pioneer/
[Accessed 18 November 2016]
CRIPPA, M.A., 2002. Living Gaudi: the architect's complete
vision. New York, N.Y: Rizzoli.
FAHR-BECKER, G., 1985. Antoni Gaudi--architecture in
Barcelona. Woodbury, N.Y; London: Barron's.
FITZGERALD, T., 2005. Antoni Gaudi: modernism, Catalan
style. American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico A.C.
HUERTA, S., 2006. Structural Design in the Work of
Gaud. Architectural Science Review, 49(4), pp. 324-339.
Visions of Space, Antoni Gaudi: Gods Architect, 01:55
28/09/2008, BBC4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.
ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/001D220A (Accessed 21
Nov 2016)

Figure 13: Fachada del Nacimiento (Nativity faade) (no

date) [photograph]. Available from http://www.guidego.com/blog/en/
category/barcelona/barcelona-tours/
[Accessed 18 November 2016]

Figure 14: (no title) (no date) [photograph]. Available from http://
http://www.inspiredspaces.com.au/the-sagrada-familia/
[Accessed 20 November 2016]

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